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Topic: Festive Financial F***ery (Read 692 times)

I thought I'd post some selections that I worked out for a speech I made in a school chapel a while back. Discovered them on my laptop whilst doing a clearout.

All statistics are from December 2011, I figured them out by using census details for the UK and everything was well sourced (I spent ages sourcing the information from reliable sources, but cannot find the source sheet.)

-In the UK, the Director of the Centre for Retail Research[1], predicted how much money will be spent online over the Christmas period. The figure is £13.4bn.

EV! I don't have time to respond to your post at this very moment, but WELCOME BACK! I missed the couple of other posts you've had since the return of the site. Very happy to see you. Happy Arbitrary Birth Date of a Nonexistent Diety Day to you.

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It isn't true that non-existent gods can't do anything. For instance, they were able to make me into an atheist.

EV! I don't have time to respond to your post at this very moment, but WELCOME BACK! I missed the couple of other posts you've had since the return of the site. Very happy to see you. Happy Arbitrary Birth Date of a Nonexistent Diety Day to you.

Mr Places, we meet again.

Thanks very much! I missed you guys all, thought I'd start off with some Christmas-bashing... Indeed, happy paganfestivalstolenbytheChristianstoaptlycelebratetheirnonexistentbackwardsdeity day to you too!

You've not missed much, only made 4 posts, one was a stupid poem and the other a terrible joke. But then again, what else is this forum for?

EV! I don't have time to respond to your post at this very moment, but WELCOME BACK! I missed the couple of other posts you've had since the return of the site. Very happy to see you. Happy Arbitrary Birth Date of a Nonexistent Diety Day to you.

Ditto, EV, welcome back!!!

And ParkingPlaces, I LOVE your name for the holiday. I do believe I'm going to steal it.

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If we ever travel thousands of light years to a planet inhabited by intelligent life, let's just make patterns in their crops and leave.

Having lived in one of the poorest countries on earth, I’m not too sure that £1.60 a day is that bad.

The first thing to see is that £1.60 buys a lot of things in a 3rd world country – if that is their average, then, in their own country, they are comparatively as wealthy as the family on £38,000.

The comparison is deceptive – we are talking Family income per year versus personal income per day – if the average UK family is 3.5, then the average income is only around £10,000 per year or £27 ($44) per person per day.

In the 3rd world, they do not spend money on heating, clothes, cars, electricity, rent, rates (local taxes), mortgage, travel, health, computers, shoes, ice-cream, cigarettes, beer, washing powder, refrigerators, etc. Their retailers’ profit margins are minimal – here food has a 300% mark up at the supermarket over what they buy it in for, and the people who are supplying the food also make a profit – the third world gets food direct from the producer or they produce it themselves.

Example – 1 banana in UK = £0.60; 1 banana in Bangladesh = £0.0051 Apple in UK = £0.60; in Bangladesh = £1.00 (they don’t grow them nor do they import them in any numbers.) so they don’t buy apples.

Of the list of spending above, how many do you really need? Or, to put it another way, If I agreed to give you all those things, how much of the £27 ($44) per day that the average UK person earns would you really need?

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Nobody says “There are many things that we thought were natural processes, but now know that a god did them.”

Having lived in one of the poorest countries on earth, I’m not too sure that £1.60 a day is that bad.

The first thing to see is that £1.60 buys a lot of things in a 3rd world country – if that is their average, then, in their own country, they are comparatively as wealthy as the family on £38,000.

In which case, we can turn the statistic around to show how much money is actually spent on Christmas then. That much money for everyone in the world is enough to feed everyone in the world for a day (even in the UK and USA, shopping Sainsbury's Basics or Asda Smart Price, you can live on £1.60/day. My girlfriend manages it fine at Uni )

From the list I'd want a fair amount. I can see how this would skew statistics. Although I still think that this statistic has a point, as if we can divide up the spending to allow everyone in the world £1.91, which is more than half the worlds' daily living costs, then there is something slightly wrong with society.

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"Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative."

In which case, we can turn the statistic around to show how much money is actually spent on Christmas then.

I agree that far too much is spent at Xmas - in my lifetime the percentage of the average wage spent over late December has risen out of all proportion - people go into debt for it and start arguing with each other - and to continue in my Scrooge-like mode, 90% is rubbish and you know it will be cheaper in the January Sales (which now start on Boxing Day.)

As for giving to the poor, whereas I would encourage everyone to give to a charity, the problem is immense and getting worse as the population increases. And the question arises as how to make sure that your £/$/€ goes where you want it to. Is it better to offer medical help or provide the water so the conditions do not arise? Is it at all possible to help everyone? If so, can we do it effectively?

Another problem is the massive corruption in 3rd World countries - why don't they care? why do we have to care for them? India sends rockets into space but has the worst slums in the world and virtually no welfare system; Nigeria is a wealthy nation but its public services are shit and injustice and the poor abound; look at Cameroon - floating on oil and like Dante's 7th level and nothing will change that.

Ho hum... am I too cynical?

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My girlfriend manages it fine at Uni )

I'll believe that. My elder son survived on next to nothing a week too.

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From the list I'd want a fair amount. I can see how this would skew statistics. Although I still think that this statistic has a point, as if we can divide up the spending to allow everyone in the world £1.91, which is more than half the worlds' daily living costs, then there is something slightly wrong with society.

A thing that bothers me is much closer to home - the public services here are going down the drain, vast amounts of money are being spent for no purpose and much is being taken from those who need it most - I would look first to put my own house in order.

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Nobody says “There are many things that we thought were natural processes, but now know that a god did them.”